


A Little Bit Higher

by staycoolstaykind



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Carnival, Falling In Love, First Meetings, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:00:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25135045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staycoolstaykind/pseuds/staycoolstaykind
Summary: Two men and a goldfish, stuck at the top of the world.
Relationships: Nakamoto Yuta/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 28
Kudos: 122





	A Little Bit Higher

**Author's Note:**

  * For [speckledsolanaceae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/speckledsolanaceae/gifts).



The world was spinning.

Johnny watched it from behind the lens of his camera, the shift and turn, the dazzling lights that raced by in streaks of glowing neon. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been to a carnival, but it all seemed so very familiar—something he knew well but couldn’t quite remember, like trying to grasp at the last vestiges of a dream as it floated away. The discordant sound of children laughing mixed together with the almost-eerie lilt of carnival music. The greasy but alluring scent of deep fried _everything_. The glow of the midway as it lit up the night around him.

He had small flashes of memory of doing this as a child, of the joy in his mother’s face as she waved to him as he went by on the merry-go-round. She was the best mom—the best _friend_ —he could have ever asked for. Her life was devoted to those snapshots of joy, to making Johnny always feel like the gift she was to him; her little boy, her unexpected child.

He really needed to call her.

He lifted his camera to snap a photo of the midway, capturing the way the booths stretched off into the distance, framed by the blur of carnival rides on either side. He shouldn’t have come alone. It felt weird walking around without anyone with him, even if it was for work. Problem was, Taeyong was busy with Jaehyun, and Mark was too easily distracted by bright lights and colours to willingly trail behind Johnny without the promise of getting to do anything _fun_.

Lift the camera. Take another photo. This time of a group of kids staring in awe at a “mermaid,” some college-aged woman in a fairly realistic mermaid tail that swam around a huge fishtank. Every now and then she’d pop up for air, though it was under the guise of handing the children one of the “treasures” from her tank–small colourful pebbles, little plastic kazoos, the usual sort of shit kids freaked out over. Johnny couldn’t help but smile at the way they squealed over their prizes. 

Letting his camera hang back around his neck, Johnny made his way to one of the game booths. Against the back wall a myriad of colourful balloons had been taped in rows, and a group of kids were doing their best to hurl darts to pop them. Set to the side were a collection of sad looking goldfish swimming in tiny fish bowls, just waiting for some grubby-handed kid to take them home and kill them right away.

“It’s all rigged, you know.”

Johnny turned with wide eyes to the stranger standing next to him. “Sorry?”

“The carnival games. They’re all rigged.” The man was probably pretty close to Johnny’s age, with a violently-blond undercut and a grin that said he was looking for trouble. He was dressed for the cool night air in an oversized red hoodie and jeans, heavy black boots done up with bright pink laces. “Like this one—they underfill the balloons to make them harder to pop. The darts are probably dull, too...which I guess isn’t a bad thing, looking at all the ten year olds hurling them as hard as they can.”

Johnny grinned, folding his arms to mimic the stance the stranger stood in. “Are you well versed in the sordid world of carnival games?”

“You have no idea,” the man said, laughing. “When I was ten I saw all the goldfish swimming around, looking all sad...I made it my life’s quest to save as many as I could from their prisons. I could tell you how every game on this midway is rigged, and the best ways to beat them anyway.” He glanced over, eyes trailing up almost like he was only just noticing Johnny standing there. His smile grew wider as he offered a hand. “Yuta.”

“Johnny,” he offered back, shaking his hand firmly. “I’d love to sponsor you, I’ll pay and you show me your skills.”

Yuta laughed, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “I accept your patronage, and I already like where this friendship is going.”

Johnny pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, paying the three dollars necessary to buy Yuta a round of darts. Yuta took his place and immediately the children gathered around him tried to move closer for a better vantage point, staring in awe at the possibility of a real, live grownup popping the balloons. Johnny couldn’t help but laugh again as he watched, lifting his camera and capturing a few shots of Yuta’s look of pure concentration as he lined up his first throw.

_Pop! Pop! Pop!_

Sure enough the darts popped three balloons, one after the other in quick succession. A little boy let out a reverent “oh, neat,” as Yuta straightened out, glancing over to make sure Johnny saw his success. “See? It’s all about knowing where to aim. And spending your entire life playing sports to work up the strength needed to throw the darts hard enough. And probably being taller that four feet.”

“Consider me impressed,” Johnny laughed. He watched as the attendant—looking supremely bored—dumped a living creature into a plastic bag and knotted the top. Yuta accepted his prize fish, holding it close to his heart like it was the greatest treasure he’d ever received. “So what’s next?”

“Next?” Yuta looked confused for a moment before laughing, shaking his head. “Oh no, I have more fish to save. You should see the aquarium I have in my apartment, it’s huge. You guys want me to win you a fish?”

The kids around him cheered. Johnny couldn’t help but be charmed by Yuta, how forward he was with his intentions about his weird little mission. He leaned his hip against the side of the booth, tilting his head as he watched Yuta methodically pop balloon by balloon, only stopping to pull more cash out of his wallet between rounds.

“Have you ever considered the environmental impact of all of those balloons?” Johnny mused, watching as more and more space cleared along the back wall. “It can’t be good for the environment.”

“Mm. I just focus on the fish. I can only climb one hill at a time, Johnny,” Yuta said, barely distracted as he threw another dart.

He didn’t stop until he’d won six more rounds, handing out goldfish to the kids around him. “Listen, tell your parents you won these on your own, okay? Don’t be a narc. And remember, you have to take care of them. Put their bag in the water before you let them out into the bowl, and make sure you cover them. They’ll jump out and commit suicide. You don’t want that.”

Six little heads nodded in unison before the kids scattered, running off with their tiny golden prizes held aloft. “Someone’s mom is going to rail you out,” Johnny said, smirking.

“One can only hope. Want to go ride the ferris wheel?”

The question caught Johnny off guard. Sure, his interest in Yuta had been instantly piqued, had only grown as he watched him liberate a small school of goldfish, but he hadn’t assumed anything would come of it. But maybe there was some sort of magic to a small town traveling carnival, maybe Yuta was just as interested as Johnny was in him.

Unfortunately…

“I’m working,” Johnny said, hoping the regret was obvious enough in his voice. Just like that, the brief moment of delirious whimsy that Yuta had brought with him started to slip away, once more turning the world around him into an overstimulating reminder that he wasn’t a kid anymore. The camera around his neck felt heavy dangling next to his press pass. “I work for the paper, I’m only here to watch other people have fun.”

Yuta clicked his tongue, looking momentarily disappointed. As soon as it was there though the look was gone, replaced by a wild, bright-eyed excitement. “This is for work! Imagine the pictures you’ll get from the top of the ferris wheel? It’ll be amazing.” He reached out to take Johnny’s hand, tugging him a few steps in the direction of the rides. “Come on, just one turn. I’ve got tickets to get rid of.”

Johnny knew he ought to say no. He was on the clock, and his editors always expected a certain number of shots when he turned everything in for a story. But Yuta was overwhelmingly charming, handsome in a daring sort of way as he turned the full force of his smile in Johnny’s direction, their hands linked together. So Johnny smiled back, gave a small nod, and let himself be pulled away from his responsibilities.

The lineup wasn’t very long; most of the crowds seemed to gravitate towards the more exciting rides, looking to spend their tickets on something more thrilling than spinning in a slow circle. They barely had any time for small talk before they were being secured into one of the seats, the attendant stepping back and hitting a button on a rickety looking console.

Immediately they swept into the air, stopping twenty-some feet off the ground as the next pair of riders was let on. Johnny bit his lip and glanced over the side, drumming his fingers against the metal bar across their laps. “Should I have mentioned I’m sort of afraid of heights?” he asked, sitting up and looking straight ahead.

“What? Why did you agree to this then?” Yuta asked, laughing as he leaned in to bump his shoulder against Johnny’s. “Like...how afraid of heights?”

“I’m weak for a pretty face,” Johnny groaned, hiding his blush behind his hands. “Not like...terrible. I just get a little twitchy. I’ll be fine. I think.”

Yuta’s eyes were bright as he turned a bit in his chair, moving so he could face Johnny a little bit better. “Sorry, pretty face?”

Of course that was all Yuta registered. “Do you think I ride the ferris wheel with all my bros?”

“I don’t know what you and your bros get up to,” Yuta teased back. The lights of the midway painted across his skin in rainbow hues, sparkling in his eyes. His liberated goldfish sat in his lap, cradled between Yuta’s hands to keep it from jostling too much. Johnny was a little bit smitten. “We just met, Johnny.”

“Have we?” Johnny asked, and was his voice more hushed than normal? “For some reason it feels like I’ve known you forever.”

The ferris wheel turned again, the seat rocking slightly as the movement jerked them back and forth. Without thinking his hand shot out to grab Yuta’s wrist, clinging to him like a lifeline. He quickly retreated, clasping his hands in his lap while his face turned a flaming red. “Sorry. Apparently I like heights less than I thought.”

A few more shaking movements and they were sitting at the top of the wheel. Johnny had to admit, the view was stunning. The lights of the fair glittered underneath them, the people below little more than ants from so far up. Above that an inky black sky was dotted with stars. It was like the night sky had been cut in half, two different worlds that refused to blend. There was something overwhelming about how pretty it all looked; the view, the cool breeze ruffling his hair; it all made Johnny ache in a way he couldn’t quite explain, especially with Yuta sitting so close to him.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Yuta asked softly. “I’ve always loved being this high up. There’s something magical about it. Being so far away from everybody else, closer to the clouds then we usually get to be.”

“Yeah,” Johnny practically whispered, turning back to glance at the man beside him. Yuta was beautiful, especially this much closer to the glow of the moon. Had they been living in the same small town this whole time, existing in different gravitational pulls, two celestial bodies coming close but never colliding? Was this what destiny felt like?

Johnny didn’t have time to look for an answer to his question. The ferris wheel jolted and shuddered, almost like it wanted to move but had decided not to. Their chair swung a bit too wildly for his liking, and he found himself gripping the bar so tight his knuckles turned white. Before the seat had even settled it happened again.

“What the fuck was that?” Johnny almost yelped, eyes wide. Part of him wanted to look over the side to see what was going on below, but he knew better than to give into that urge. The ground was too far away. 

“Not sure,” Yuta hummed, casually prying one of Johnny’s hands free and holding it in his own. “Probably just the underpaid teenager who runs this thing fucking around. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s fine.”

It was not fine. After fifteen minutes of making easy conversation (much of which was built around distracting Johnny from his anxiety) they heard a voice shouting from below, reedy and thin. “Ferris wheel’s broken!” they heard, straining to catch the words over the soft whistle of the wind. “Tech’s coming out to look, we’ll have you folks down soon.”

“Oh, good,” Johnny muttered. “Good, perfect. Exactly what I was hoping for.”

Yuta, who was still holding his hand, gave it a light squeeze. “We’ll be fine. Maybe this is good luck, we just have longer to hang up here and talk now.”

Johnny looked at him from the corner of his eye, giving a thin smile. “Oh, you’re very good.”

“I’m told I’m dangerously charming,” Yuta said, once again stunning Johnny with the full force of his grin. “Got you on the ferris wheel, didn’t I? You shouldn’t be so trusting of strangers, Johnny. You’re going to end up in someone’s trunk.” He turned to look back out over the fair, the smile on his face growing vague and wistful. “Do you believe in aliens?”

The question was so sudden, caught Johnny so off-guard, that he couldn’t help but answer automatically. “In a way. I don’t know if I believe in little grey dudes walking around probing people, but I think the universe is way too big for it to just be us.”

Yuta nodded enthusiastically, seemingly pleased by his answer. “There are some really cool theories about why they haven’t contacted us, if they exist. I think they probably know we’re total idiots and just don’t think it’s worthwhile, that’s why they’ll take people for studies but don’t like, reach out to our governing bodies or whatever.”

“So you believe in abduction stories?” Johnny asked, raising his eyebrows. “Like, the wild people on TV who talk about carrying alien babies just to have the pregnancy disappear five months in?”

“Hell yes. The weird ones are just the ones who end up on TV, Johnny. There are completely normal people who also say they’ve seen things, things that are totally corroborated by other evidence. It’s really compelling.”

Johnny wasn’t quite sure how they ended up here, but Yuta looked so sincere that Johnny couldn’t worry too much. Their hands were still linked, and finger by finger Yuta seemed to be lacing their digits together, giving a little squeeze any time the wind rocked their seat a bit too much. How could he think about how high they were when Yuta was so close, Johnny in one hand and a bagged goldfish in the other?

The conversation followed an interesting trajectory; from aliens they went to cryptids, discussing their favourite myths and monsters. After that they speculated on who shot JFK, deciding together that it was probably the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. For some reason after that they landed on their favourite Spice Girls songs, which bled into a passionate debate on what season four of Hannibal would have ended up looking like.

“They couldn’t have done Silence of the Lambs, they didn’t have the rights!” Yuta said, eyes wide. “Besides, so much of Silence of the Lambs depended on Lecter being in prison and then breaking out. He and Will would already be on the loose and half way to Argentina by then.”

“If they both lived,” Johnny said solemnly. “Who’s to say they wouldn’t have killed Will off just to shake things up?”

Yuta looked distressed by this, as if he hadn’t considered the possibility. He was opening his mouth to respond when the ferris wheel lurched and started moving, this time making a smooth, proper arc that brought them closer to the ground.

“Oh thank god,” Johnny said in a rush of breath, pressing his free hand to his heart. “I was starting to worry they’d have to get a cherry picker, and I definitely wouldn’t survive that.” He checked his watch—two hours. Somehow two hours had passed, but he had barely noticed.

“I’d see you on the news crying in a fireman’s arms,” Yuta grinned, giving Johnny’s hand another small squeeze before finally letting go. “Is it weird that I’m a little sad? I had fun being stuck with you. You’re fun to talk to.”

Johnny turned to study him, though Yuta was dutifully avoiding his gaze. It was the first bit of vulnerability he’d shown since they met, letting his mask of bravado slip so Johnny could see the real human underneath. It was almost startling; everything around them was oversaturated and false, meant to entice with no follow-through. It struck Johnny that Yuta might be the only true thing here, hidden amongst the deep fried oreos and circus animals, looking small in his oversized hoodie with a goldfish in his hands.

“Well,” Johnny started, glancing around them. “I mean. I’m pretty much your fish’s stepdad now. It would be pretty jarring for me to just disappear on him.” As they returned to the ground he eagerly pushed the bar off of their laps, standing and waiting for Yuta to join him. “I’m not an absent father, Yuta.”

Yuta’s smile slowly returned, as did the brightness to his eyes. “I decided to name him Amsterdam. It’s where I lost my virginity.”

Johnny choked on his laughter, following Yuta down the ramp that led them back to the midway. “I’ve known you for a few hours and I already know that’s the most ‘you’ thing I’ve ever heard. Amsterdam, huh? I lost my virginity in the bed of Paul Kessler’s truck my junior year of high school. Amsterdam sounds a lot more exciting.”

“It’s a story,” Yuta said, nodding. “A good one, too.”

“Well.” Johnny reached down, reclaiming the hand that had been holding his while they dangled in midair, getting to know each other just out of reach of the rest of humanity. “Want to get Ihop and tell me about it?”

“Sounds romantic.” Yuta popped onto his toes, pressing a fleeting kiss to Johnny’s cheek before dragging him in the direction of the vast, empty field they’d turned into a parking lot. “Come on, we’ll take my car!”

Johnny let himself be led, heart spinning in his chest like the rides they raced past. The world was dark beyond the lights of the carnival, so dark he could barely make out anything other than the cotton candy stalls and petting zoos that filled his periphery. Johnny grinned as he held Yuta’s hand and ran towards the darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> A fic for sweet Anne, who I adore to bits and pieces <3 As always, thanks to my lovely Casey for proofreading!
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/alleywhomst)||[cc](https://curiouscat.me/alleywhomst%22)


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